Popcorn
by ikigai.potter
Summary: At Team Seven's weekly movie night, Sakura expected bonding time with her boys, a cinematic adventure, and a little R&R. What she got was horror movies, lurking Uchiha, and misplaced popcorn. Non-Massacre.


_**Popcorn**_ _: At Team Seven's weekly movie night, Sakura expected bonding time with her boys, a cinematic adventure, and relaxation. What she got was horror movies, lurking Uchiha, and misplaced popcorn._

My first attempt at Naruto fanfiction! Please be gentle! This is the first part of a three-part storyline!

 **I do not own any rights to Naruto.**

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It was Sasuke's turn to host their weekly movie night. After cramping together on Naruto's threadbare couch last week and fishing out not one but _two_ ramen cups from between the cushions, Sakura was grateful for the opportunity to sprawl fully in Sasuke's luxurious living room.

Establishing her place in the center of the mountain of pillows and blankets they piled altogether on the floor, Sakura smiled as she wiggled her toes and reached out a hand towards Naruto, wordlessly requesting some of his popcorn.

"What are we watching, gents?"

Naruto obligingly reached into the collective bowl and dropped a generous amount in her waiting palm. While she happily munched, he stuck his face back in the DVD cabinet under the large flat screen.

"Well I am absolutely sure we are _not_ watching the chick flics that Sakura very obviously planted here."

Sakura pouted. "They could be Mikoto-san's"

Sasuke spared a glance over Naruto's shoulder and frowned. "My mother doesn't even watch these."

Sighing heartily, she sat up. "But if we can't pick anything else…?"

"No," both boys replied immediately.

As if he sensed her oncoming retort, Naruto turned in place and stuck a tan finger directly in her face. She literally had to cross her eyes to look at it. "No, Sakura-chan, I love you, but for the last four weeks, _four whole weeks_ , we have watched one of your girly movies. I need at least one explosion to get through this week. _Please._ "

Okay. He had a point. She may have bullied them the past few weeks, but it was movie night, damn it. One of the few moments a kunoichi had to shirk off her kunai and bloody clothes in order to paint toenails and coo over romance. She deserved a chick flick or two in her life.

"Fine," she didn't mean to snap, but her answer came out short anyway. Plopping back down on the floor, she crossed her arms and committed to pouting. "If you're so tired of my choices, then you two can just go ahead and pick whatever you like."

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she regret them. Sasuke and Naruto froze, looked at each other, and both smirked.

"Shit."

* * *

Exactly a half an hour later, Sakura was hidden under a blanket wondering which mission had gifted her enough bad karma to end up in this situation.

 _This_ is why she started planting mindless romantic movies to choose from. Sakura could stand to watch almost any sort of film, adventure, romance, fantasy, whatever, but what she absolutely under no circumstances could ever bear to watch ever was horror.

Unfortunately, her two very annoying teammates felt quite the opposite about this particular genre.

She had already, by this time, taken full control of the popcorn bowl, and was stress-eating as the film progressed. A good portion of it had landed in her lap and across the chair from the many times she had already flinched and startled herself.

"Why is she going in the basement," she whispered around a mouthful of buttery-flavored comfort. "Everyone knows not to go in the basement. I don't even watch these movies, and I know not to go in the basement _when there is a literal demon possessing your house._ "

Sakura could practically feel the way her teammates' eyes were rolling. Lounged on the couch, they were both the picture of perfectly calm purveyors of horror films, not flinching in the slightest and even daring to smirk when someone met their bloody demise.

Without taking his eyes off of the screen, Naruto reached over the arm of the couch to get his grubby fingers in her popcorn bowl. "Chill out, Sakura-chan. If you know what's going to happen then why do you still get so…" He trailed off as he switched his attention to the bowl to see that it's only contents were un-popped kernels. "Sakura-chan," he whined, "you ate all the popcorn!"

"To be fair," Sasuke chipped in, "half of it is on the floor."

On cue, creepy music began to filter from the speakers, heralding another ill-fated death. Sensing her opportunity to avoid it, Sakura leapt from her chair and snatched the popcorn bowl back from Naruto. "It's fine, Naruto, I'll just go and make more."

She bolted from the room before it was too late, or, at least, before she could catch her teammates making fun of her. Stupid boys. Just let them see what happens the next time they show up at the hospital needing her help.

The kitchen was in relatively close proximity to the living room, but, as she tread barefoot across the ancient wood floors of Sasuke's clan house, Sakura suddenly felt as though this was hardly better than sitting through the movie.

"Get a grip, Sakura," she berated herself as she jumped at a squeaky floorboard. "There's no such thing as zombie demon monsters who like to eat young, attractive females. It's just a stupid movie. Now, where is the popcorn?"

She squinted into various different cabinets in Sasuke's dimly-lit kitchen until she managed to find what she was looking for. Even after all these years visiting Sasuke's house, she still had problems finding food in his massive kitchen. To be fair, it was about the size of the living room in her apartment.

Breaking open the plastic, Sakura unfolded the bag and placed it in the microwave on the counter. Pushing the button emblazoned with a kernel, she hummed lightly as she moved towards the garbage can under the sink to toss the un-popped kernels from the last bowl.

That was when she caught sight of movement from the corner of her eye.

Shrieking just the slightest bit, she only vaguely registered her ninja senses screaming at her to arm herself with something against what was clearly a zombie demon monster with her in the kitchen. Reaching out for something on the counter, Sakura wheeled around to face her attacker…only to find herself armed with a banana.

Needless to say, Uchiha Itachi was hardly impressed.

Sakura didn't get a lot of opportunities to interact with the person many hailed as the greatest ninja in the village, just short of Tsunade herself. To be fair, her position on Team 7 and as Deputy Chief of the Konoha Hospital did ensure that she ran into him every once in a while, especially in recent years.

Most of the time, he was lying on a hospital bed when Tsunade forced him to seek medical treatment after a perilous mission. As he was such a high profile patient, it was usually Sakura's duty to make sure that he, along with the rest of ANBU Squad One, was in tip top shape.

While Sakura had no illusions about the sheer difference in their ninja skills, she was proud to say that she had the distinct privilege of being held in high regard by Itachi for her service to the village.

It was very likely that that high regard was sailing out the kitchen window.

She couldn't be sure, she would swear later that he was actually _smiling_ at her. Although, half-lit by the fridge, it couldn't have just as easily been his normal stoic façade or one of those incredibly irritating Uchiha smirks. The former was certainly in place by the time he shut the fridge door and turned to face her fully. He had no words to spare for her. He merely regarded the banana pointed threateningly at his person and met her gaze with a single raised eyebrow.

Sakura found herself laughing nervously at his silent question. "Sorry about that Uchiha-san. The boys insisted on a horror movie tonight and, well, obviously, I don't handle them very well."

The raised eyebrow remained firmly etched on his aristocratic features. "You don't like horror films," he questioned smoothly, though she didn't know why he bothered.

Feeling silly at this point, Sakura returned the fruit to its place. "Not the slightest bit, especially the ones Naruto and Sasuke seem to love so much. All sorts of horrible monsters creeping around dark basements and attacking horrible actresses, not to mention all of the unnecessary gore."

Sakura, realizing that she was rambling, returned her attention to Itachi only to find her blood pressure going up the slightest bit. There it was, that damned Uchiha smirk.

"Sakura-san," Oh, yes he was definitely amused. "I do believe you just described our entire livelihood."

It took a great amount of effort on her part to keep from smacking herself on the forehead. "You're right, aren't you? Just add creepy string music and our lives are horror movies."

His smooth chuckle echoed around the kitchen as he approached her with slow and purposeful steps. Too shocked by his second show of amusement in less than five minutes, Sakura found herself frozen as he stopped within her personal bubble. She had never really realize how much taller than her he was until now (it was never easy to tell how tall someone was from a hospital bed). He probably even had an inch or two on Sasuke, though he was the leaner of the two.

Sakura had always realized that Uchiha Itachi was an incredibly attractive male. Every kunoichi and civilian woman in the village realized it. Even setting his unmatched ninja skills and pretty Uchiha face aside, his general air of quiet confidence and his ability to control the attention of any space he entered drew people in.

The running joke was that every kunoichi in Konoha went through an "Itachi Uchiha crush" phase. Many women in the village sought his attention on a daily basis. None succeeded in gaining it.

Sakura had chosen to go a different route in her childhood and majorly crush on his younger brother instead, but, now, with him standing so close to her she could feel his body heat, Sakura was acutely aware of the way her heart was starting to pound just the slightest bit against her will.

 _Oh no,_ she thought to herself, _No, no, no, no, no. You are way too old to start developing needless crushes on your superiors. Get yourself together, Sakura!_

Despite her best efforts to motivate herself, Sakura found her brain short-circuiting when he leaned forward just the slightest bit and reached out with his right arm…

To pick up the banana she had laid on the counter.

Mentally sighing as he straightened, she wondered if she could manage to casually take a step away from him when he spoke again.

"Who would have thought," he mused, peeling the skin back from the fruit, "that such a devoted and esteemed kunoichi such as yourself would be afraid of a little movie?"

His words had a flair of patronization that Sakura did not like one little bit. He may be Uchiha Itachi, skilled ninja, celebrated team leader, and village sex god, but she was Sakura Haruno, damn it!

Pointing a stern finger at him, Sakura warned, "Everyone has the right to be afraid of something, Uchiha-san. I can hide under the blankets from your brother's stupid movie and still be a brave shinobi!"

"I never said otherwise, Sakura-san," he mollified.

With a firm nod, she retorted, "Good."

And, of course, that was the moment the long-forgotten popcorn decided to finish. As the timer turned to zero, the microwave beeped loudly behind her, startling Sakura. Wheeling around with her hand resting over her heart, the barefooted kunoichi slipped just the slightest bit on the wooden floorboards of the kitchen and struggled to maintain balance for a few seconds.

Itachi, skilled shinobi and trained gentleman that he was, reacted appropriately and without the slightest hesitation, stepping forward and reaching out with his free hand so that she fell against him and was stabilized by a steady arm at her waist.

Time seemed to slow until it crawled while Sakura attempted to acclimate herself to her new positioning and wonder how she had even gotten there in the first place. She was acutely aware of the feel of his chest rising and falling with every breath he took against her back and noted almost distantly that the hand at her hip was pleasantly warm instead of intrusive as it should have been.

Fully ready to die of embarrassment at this point, Sakura cleared her throat awkwardly and attempted to extricate herself from his hold. "Thank you, Uchiha-san. I don't what's come over me tonight."

Though the first nudge at his hand failed to convince him to let go, the second seemed to do the trick. However, instead of merely releasing her, the way his hand slid unnecessarily against her abdomen hinted at some reluctance on his part.

Suddenly realizing the direction her thoughts had taken, Sakura mentally shook her head. _Get real,_ she thought to herself. _There's no way he actually_ wants _to hold me! He was probably just surprised you actually managed to slip on the floor!_

All of her mental did nothing to prevent the slight shiver that ran through her body at his unintentional caress. She hoped the way she scooted away from him was casual enough, but as she met his piercing, observant gaze, she found herself sincerely doubting it.

"I believe it would be in your best interest to steer clear of horror movies in the future, Sakura-san," he noted calmly, only the whisper of a smirk on his face.

Laughing nervously, Sakura brushed a lock of hair that had fallen over her face behind her ear. "Thank you for the advice, Uchiha-san. I'll bully my teammates a little more next time. Speaking of which, I should probably bring them their popcorn before they get too cranky. They're such babies when it comes to food."

The Uchiha smirk stretched across the bottom half of his face, but, now that she wasn't the butt of the joke, she found herself smiling in return.

Turning back to the popcorn bowl, the microwave, and the whole reason she had found herself in the kitchen in the first place, Sakura called distractedly over her shoulder. "Have a good night, Uchiha-san!"

As she opened the microwave, she vaguely sensed the way he paused for just the slightest moment behind her before turning and exiting through the second kitchen door, the one that led towards the living quarters in their gigantic home.

"Sakura," she hummed in response as she poured the steaming popcorn into the large, orange bowl. "If you need more popcorn, you'll find there is plenty in your shirt."

Freezing where she stood, she couldn't even formulate a reply before his steps indicated he had already left the kitchen.

Dazed and confused, Sakura merely shook her head and carried her prize back to the living room, where she immediately deposited it on Naruto's lap. As he dove face first into the butter and salt, she returned to her seat and wondered what Itachi could have possibly meant. Surely there wasn't…

Sneaking a casual peek down at herself, Sakura was mortified to see that here were indeed a few rogue kernels not _on_ but _in_ her shirt. It took all of her ninja stealth to sneak them out without Naruto and Sasuke noticing.

Great. So she managed to embarrass herself not once, no twice, but _three times_ in front of Itachi within the span of five minutes.

Although...she suddenly found herself wondering how he had caught sight of the popcorn if it wasn't on her front. There's no way he would have…but he must have! That bastard!

This time, it was Sasuke and Naruto who flinched in surprise, violently enough that popcorn went flying.

"Sakura-chan! Why are you screaming! No one's even died yet!"

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Thanks for reading! Please Review!


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